Sunday, August 29, 2010

I had a busy August month and I had many things to share but could not find the time to post up here. Another lame reason is I am just plain lazy to blog as my time is spent more on my FB games. So now I get a break from my addiction to share something here. Today's food is Baked Curry Puffs which I made a month ago. Gosh! that is how long I have been away from here.

I used some atta flour or wholewheat flour that is use to make the Indian Capati for this pastry. With baking this Malaysian favorite snacks it saves me the time of splattering my nice kitchen from any oily vapour besides being a much healthy snack.

Ingredients for pastry:

150g atta flour

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

140g cold butter

Ice cold water to mix

Fillings:

200g lean meat (pork, chicken or beef)-diced

2-3 medium sized potato

1 tbsp oil

1 big onion- chopped

1 tbsp meat curry powder

1 tsp of chicken powder

salt to taste

Method:

The ready cook fillings........

Dice meat into desired cubes. Add salt and curry powder to season it for awhile. Boiled the diced potatoes in pot til tender. In a wok or pan, heat oil and sautee the chopped onions for a minute. Add in the meat and cook til browned and add in the boiled potatoes. Mix well and season to taste. Dish out filling onto plate and leave aside to cool.

To make the pastry, sieve flour and salt into a mixing bowl and rub in the cold butter gently until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Add enough ice cold water to form a firm dough. Wrap up dough with plastic sheets and leave to chill in fridge for about 30 mins before using.

Cut out pastry circles ready for wrapping with fillings.....

Roll out pastry thinly about the thickness of a 50 sen coin and stamp out with a cutter (I used the cover of my biscuit container) into circles of 9 cm in diameter. Place spoonful of fillings in the centre. Fold over, flute if you are skilful or just press down with a fork to seal the edges. I use the plastic curry puff maker bought in supermarket for easier handling as my arthritic fingers made it more diffficult for me to flute it.

Unbaked puffs ready to go into oven...........

Lastly brush puff with beaten egg for a golden glaze. Baked in a preheated oven of 200 degrees Celcius for 15 to 20 minutes or til golden brown.

I like to bake in double portions and when cooled I keep the puffs in airtight container or sealed plastic bags then kept in freezer for weeks to enjoy. When needed just take out to thaw and heat in microwave.

For those who wants to know how a curry puff mould looks like, refer to the above pic.

Put a cut pastry on top , add in fillings, fold over, press and pull out the unwanted ends.